Hairstyle Inertia

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Hairstyle Inertia is the phenomenon where adult or teenage characters who Flashback to a time in their childhood are frequently shown to have the exact same hairstyle, though those with long hair usually have shorter— but not short— hair. Pigtails, ponytails, braids, or other hairstyles that require long hair are also shown to be stubbier and shorter; is often used for Spinoff Babies.

It is not an Important Haircut— those happen in series and are, as the title says, important to the plot. It is also not an Expository Hairstyle Change, which usually does not flashback to a character's childhood. This trope deals only with characters keeping the same hairstyle from childhood until the present time. The opposite of this trope is Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

Additionally, this trope sometimes applies to some characters in a work of fiction, but not to others.

Examples:

Izaya, Shinra, and Kasuka in Durarara!!. Shizuo (a natural brunette) is exempt from this list only because he dyes his hair blond sometime around high school; the style itself is arguably the same since he was a kid.

Rei is actually a subversion - If you look closely, while she still has the same pageboy bob, the first clone has her bangs parted in a manner similar to Yui and Shinji, while present-day Rei has her hair hanging into the middle of her forehead.

Everyone from Axis Powers Hetalia, except for the Double Subversion in the strip where England in the Middle Ages sees France's fashionably long hair and grows his out, only to have the style become unpopular. He plans on keeping it but lets France adjust it a bit. Instead France cuts it back to what it originally was, to England's chagrin.

Goku's hair is so static that on the few occasions he suffered some minor hair damage, it immediately returned to its regular state one panel later.

Lampshaded in the Cell Saga, and the trope was even made to be the Saiyans' racial trait (it does not however apply to part-Saiyans). After Vegeta and Trunks use the time chamber to fit a year of training into a day, Bulma is confused to see Trunks has long hair while Vegeta looks exactly the same.

Vegeta: A pure Saiyan's hair does not get "shaggy". It maintains the same shape from the day that he is born.

Goku: What do you know? I never noticed!

Bulma: You never noticed you never needed a haircut?

However, in Dragonball Super, after spending three years in the time chamber both Goku and Vegeta have full beards, though not particularly long ones. Which suggests that both of them must have had to shave at least a few times in their lives.

Averted and played straight in Naruto. Practically every major character besides Chouji, Lee, Tsunade, Sakura, Ino, Nagato, Kushina, Hinata, and Hanabi. The Distant Finale also has most of the characters having new hairstyles.

Sakura is an interesting case. Flashbacks show that as a child she had short hair but grew it long due to rumors that Sasuke liked long haired girls. She starts the series with long hair but has an Important Haircut in the second arc. Sakura keeps her hair more-or-less the same length from then on, bar some a flashback where she grew out her hair between Part 1 and Part 2 and her hair being slightly longer as an adult.

Hinata has probably had the most hairstyle changes out of any character. In childhood flashbacks Hinata had the same hairstyle she had in Part 1. Come Part 2 and Hinata has grown her hair out. The end of The Last: Naruto the Movie show Hinata with short hair again as an adult, though it's in a different style than before. However between Boruto being a toddler and Boruto going to the ninja academy she grew her hair back long. Then by Boruto The Movie her hair is back to the bob haircut she had when her son was young.

In the Magical Girl Lyrical NanohaThe Movie 1st Tribute Comics that doubled as promotions for the four manga running at the time of The Movie's release, the Lyrical Almanac◊ had Subaru making up her version of how she and Teana first met, complete with child versions of the two that were still sporting their teenage hairstyles from StrikerS.

Wendy Garret of GUN×SWORD has the same twin braids as a very young girl that she dons in series. She's still wearing her hair that way years later, when she's shown as an adult.

Played straight for most of the characters in Eyeshield 21. Especially noticeable in Sena, who has a serious case of shonen hair.

Hiruma, Musashi, Mamori, and Agon are aversions. Hiruma started dyeing and styling his hair in middle school, Musashi grew his hair out after becoming a construction worker, Mamori's had a few slight variations in her haircut, and Agon went through at least five different hairstyles in middle school alone.

Pretty much everyone in One Piece. A bit odd that many characters only recently chose to change their hairstyles all at once.

Averted in Tenchi Muyo!, where young Ayeka wears her hair in two pig tails instead of two pony tails. Given what we see of other Juraian princesses, this seems to be standard. Played straight with Ryoko.

In 'the Girls und Panzer prequel manga, Miho, her sister Maho and their mother Shiho all have the same hairstyles as they do in the anime six years later. Even Kikuyo, a maid who makes an appearance in the manga, has the same hairstyle.

Kanako from Wandering Son had pigtails even when she was a kindergartner. Averted with almost everyone else, who realistically change haircuts over the years. Kanako herself eventually lets her hair down starting around high school.

Averted with four out of the main six in anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Menma being justified as being a ghost, so she has the same haircut as a kid. Yukiatsu just has a short, simple, haircut.

In Saki this can be played straight or averted, as flashbacks take place anywhere from the recent past to roughly a decade ago. Aversions include Saki, who had pigtails when she was younger, and Ako, whose hairstyle looked slightly similar to Yuuki's when she was in elementary school.

Zig-Zagged in Trigun, while Vash changes his hair color becomes darker every time he uses his powers, in the anime he and Knives had long hair when they were kids. But in both the manga and anime, Vash grows his hair after certain incident and adopts a different identity. The same goes to Livio

When Kurosu's from Ana Satsujin life is flashing before his eyes we see that he's had the exact same haircut since infancy.

Both averted and played straight in Your Lie in April. Most characters show little to no change in hairstyle throughout their lives. Others such as Emi, Kaori, and Hiroko have.

Played straight in Kimi to Boku for every boy except Chizuru and Shun. Even with Shun, he starts out as a Long-Haired Pretty Boy but cuts his hair early on to look like his preschool haircut.

Tai's big hair is the same in all flashbacks to his childhood. It's likewise the same in the second season. But in the Distant Finale, TK's narration says "Tai finally cut his hair."

Yolei's hair is also tied back in the same bandanna both in flashbacks to when she's a child and in the Distant Finale.

Averted for the others, as they all have different hairstyles in between the two seasons. Sora notably has Boyish Short Hair in the first, and it has grown to her shoulders in the second.

Comic Books

Young Clark Kent/Superboy, in continuities where he exists, has the same hairstyle(s) as Adult Clark/ Superman (short, slicked back as Clark, spit-curl as hero). In continuities where Clark wasn't Superboy, Young Clark usually has the spit curl.

Most of the characters in Astérix, most notably Obelix. Averted by little Impedimenta (who has pigtails) and, for some reason, young Cacofonix (who has long centre-parted hair as a kid, and swept-back long hair with a quiff as an adult).

Harry has this as a magical power. Despite many attempts by the Dursleys to cut or control it, Harry's hair always rapidly grows back to an unkempt look. Averted in the films, where Harry is shown sporting several hairstyle variations across the years.

Hermione however is always described as having the same bushy hairstyle across all seven books - save for straightening it once at the Yule Ball. Again averted in the films, as her hair is blonde in fifth yearnote Emma Watson had been required to dye it blonde for Ballet Shoes.

Despite being able to change her hair at will, Tonks is forever reverting to her preferred spiky pink style.

Brian from Spaced has a flashback to his childhood, and he even has a goatee beard then. Mike also has a moustache in the flashbacks to the tree incident (and young Tim has bleached-blond hair as well).

Rose Tyler, from Doctor Who, has bleached-blonde hair, with noticeable brown eyebrows and roots. She was a natural blond when she was a small child. Truth in Television in that many people start out blonde as children, with the hair darkening as they get older.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is shown as blonde as a child in a flashback to Dawn's (imagined) birth. It has previously been established that blonde is not her natural color. Presumably it darkened in puberty (as happens with some blondes) and she eventually bleached it back. She's shown as a blonde child in a Season 2 flashback too.

On a flashback in ''Community, young Jeff (7-8 y.o.) was shown to have the same hairstyle he does as an adult. Averted in another flashback, where Jeff is 10 and has longer hair with bangs.

Whenever ''Supernatural shows Dean and Sam as children or teenagers, they have short and long hair, respectively.

Emma has always had the same long blonde hair whenever we're shown her as a child or teenager.

Poseidon keeps the same close cropped hairstyle and beard in the hundred or so years between Ursula's childhood and adulthood. Averted with Ursula herself though; she has black hair as a child and blonde as an adult.

Prue's younger self has the exact same bobbed hairstyle as her in the flashback to the 1970s.

Inverted with Patty and Penny. Despite being ghosts, their hairstyles change whenever they appear. Penny's even goes from black to red. It's a fandom joke that the afterlife must have hair salons.

A minor plot point in Weirdsister College (a spin-off of The Worst Witch). Through childhood to adulthood, Mildred had Girlish Pigtails. When she bumps into school archnemesis Ethel, the latter remarks "pigtails and all". After getting one-upped by Ethel once more, Millie gives herself an Important Haircut.

More jarring is Maya. At the end of case 5 of Trials & Tribulations, a picture is found of Maya and Mia as kids. Maya, likely only a couple years old in that picture, had the same long, top-knot hair she does now.

Averted with Franziska von Karma who had gotten a haircut between the flashback case in Ace Attorney Investigations and Justice For All.

In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, Athena has this when we flash back to her childhood. Pearl has the same hairstyle from when she was 8/9 when we see her again as a teenager, though slighly modified: Her bangs are longer and pulled to the side, hanging down and supporting a single large bead.

It's discovered, in Persona 2Innocent Sin that the original "Masked Circle" was actually the five protagonists' (Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi, Maya, and Jun) secret club; all of them other than Maya wore a Power Rangers-style mask to hide their faces. Other than Maya, the kids all had the same hairstyles when they were kids as they do when they're in high school; Maya being the exception (shorter, coarser looking hair) is important, as the others do not initially remember Maya and assumed she died in a fire all those years ago.

In the Disgaea Novels, Laharl has pretty much the same hairstyle when he was little, his antennae was just shorter.

All of the gang in Higurashi: When They Cry. Including Hanyuu though she is special since it's when she was physically older. We see her as an adult in her human appearances but currently she is in the form of a preteen.

Flashbacks in Final Fantasy VII show Cloud with the same, ridiculous hairstyle as a child and teenager, except for being a paler yellow when he was little - but averted (slightly) in one scene, where a 13-year-old Cloud is shown with a ponytail (and the same big front-leaning spikes and bangs). Fanon assumes that Cloud at that time was going through a phase where he was trying to grow his hair out to look like Sephiroth. Averted from that point onwards, though - in Cloud's chronologically later appearances, he has a different haircut, apparently for the sake of it.

Web Animation

The senpai in Senpai Club have more-or-less had the same hairstyles their entire lives. The only thing that changed about them was that between middle school and high school they went from looking animesque to looking cartoony and simplistic.

Web Comics

Lisa of Penny and Aggie, visually distinctive for her hair dyed varying shades of red and tied into six pigtails, is shown having essentially the same hairstyle as a child, only with shorter pigtails.

Virtually all the characters of Homestuck are shown to have the exact same hairstyle throughout their entire lives. We even see baby versions of all four kids and their guardians here, and their hair is exactly the same. Rose even has her hairband!

Parodied in the Inside The Gamer's Studio web comic by Tim Carillet. The host, Whit, is interviewing Cloud and asks about how he maintains his hair. He responds:

Cloud: I was born with it. Whit: (beat) Your mother was a brave woman.

Western Animation

The Simpsons: Marge Simpson already had her characteristic beehive as a toddler. Although apparently she wore her hair long and straight as a teenager, and then reverted to the beehive as an adult.

Bart and Lisa have the same hairstyles as babies as they do now. The future versions of all three kids have roughly the same hairstyles as well.

As a baby, Homer had two hairs on his head, similar to what he has now. Though he did have a full head of hair between childhood and Marge's first pregnancy.

Averted as a Running Gag with Dr Hibbert - every time he's appeared in a flashback, he's had a different haircut, usually one that's associated with the time period in question.

Katara and Sokka both had the same hairstyle when they were single-digit aged as they do now that they're teenagers. The same is true for Azula, but not for Zuko.

While similar, in "The Southern Raiders" you can see notable if small differences in their childhood hairstyles. However, during Katara's opening speech in the first episode which takes place two years before the start of the series, their hair is identical to the present day.

In The Legend of Korra, Katara's hairstyle remains nearly the same 70 years later when she's Avatar Korra's Waterbending master, complete with hair-loopies.

The same applies to Toph and Sokka when Korra sees them in a vision/flashback while connecting with Aang. Even in a later flashback showing Lin and Suyin's youth, Toph still had the same hairstyle she had as a child.

The latter actually wears a hat that looks a lot like their original haircut.

Even as an old woman, Toph still uses the exact same hairstyle, though in her initial appearance she has her hair down.

Korra herself is briefly shown as a four-year-old in the pilot, and has the same basic three-tail hairstyle she does as a seventeen-year-old, albeit shorter and bushier.

In a flashback, Avatar Wan is shown growing his hair out while learning firebending. From there till the day he dies, he keeps it like that, age-related greying aside.

Johnny Bravo had his trademark hair and sunglasses as a small baby in the crib... as well as his trademark libido.

Brock Samson of The Venture Bros. animated TV show seems to have had his trademark mullet for a long time, even back when he was in college during an episode where team Venture and pals are taken hostage by a supposedly dead college room-mate.

Phineas and Ferb has a lot of these. The most exaggerated example is Linda Flynn, since she had the same hairstyle when she was a baby.

Pretty much all the main characters of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic exhibit this whenever flashbacks show them as fillies. The only exception is Pinkie Pie, who had a straight mane until getting her cutie mark, at which point it poofed up into her current hairstyle. Fluttershy also has a slightly different mane in her youth; which covers her eyes like an emo fringe.

Real Life

Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth and formerly Metallica) has had the same long red hair since his late teens. This is especially impressive because just about everybody else from that period of metal has had shorter hair at some point.

David Crosby (of The Byrds and CSNY fame) has had the same hairstyle and moustache since the late sixties.

Mara Wilson has one entry in the FAQ page of her website about people asking why she still has the same hairstyle she had in Matilda. She counters that she's had various short styles in her teen years and prefers to wear it longer these days.

Community

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